


A Monster Under the Bed

by sapphire316



Series: Fullmetal Alchemist Amino Scenario Weekly Writing Prompts [5]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen, Not too graphic but gets dark, SWW, Short Story, Somewhat gruesome imagery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 12:45:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18699871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire316/pseuds/sapphire316
Summary: “Al,” Ed began irritably, kneeling down and lifting the bedskirt off the ground to get a proper view of whatever his little brother thought was underneath. “I promise you, there’s nothing under…”He trailed off, eyes going wide.“...here…”(Originally written for a Scenario Weekly Writing prompt on Fullmetal Alchemist Amino)





	A Monster Under the Bed

“U-Um...B-Brother…? W-Wake up…”

“Mhm…” Ed blearily opened his golden eyes at the sound of his younger brother’s hushed voice, drowsily swinging his head to the side to look at the smaller child. “What, Al…?” he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes. “You gotta pee or something…?”

Alphonse shook his head vehemently, and Edward then noticed that the younger boy was trembling, and his equally golden eyes were wide with fear.

The older Elric frowned and sat up, pushing sleep away from his mind. “What’s wrong, then…?” he asked uncertainly.

“I-I...I think there’s a _m-monster_ u-under my bed!” Al whispered, eyes darting around as though afraid that the alleged creature might overhear him.

At this, however, Ed merely groaned and flopped back down on the bed. “Come on, Al…” he muttered, throwing an arm over his face. “I told you, there’s no such thing as monsters under beds!”

“B-But I s-saw it!” Al insisted. “I r-really did!”

“No, you didn’t,” Ed said firmly. “It’s fine, Al, just go back to sleep.”

“C-Can you p-please just c-come check…?” Alphonse pleaded, tugging at his brother’s arm. “J-Just to be sure!”

“Ugh...fine,” Edward grumbled. As tired as he was, he knew that Al likely wouldn’t leave him alone until he came to take a look at his supposed “monster.” Oh, the sacrifices an older brother had to make for the younger…

The boy pushed himself out of bed and allowed Al to take his hand and lead him to the offending bed. Once they came within a few feet of it, though, the younger Elric yelped and hid behind Ed, cowering in the face of his imagined danger.

“I-It’s right under th-there…” he whispered fearfully, hanging back while Edward pressed forward.

“Al,” Ed began irritably, kneeling down and lifting the bedskirt off the ground to get a proper view of whatever his little brother thought was underneath. “I promise you, there’s nothing under…”

He trailed off, eyes going wide.

“...here…”

...was that _blood?_

A sticky, dark red liquid oozed its way out from under the bed, filling Edward’s nose with its vile, metallic scent. The boy yelped and fell backwards, letting go of the bedskirt and staring at the floor in utter shock.

His stomach dropped even further, however, when a gray, misshapen hand began to push its way out from under the now-bloodied fabric. Somewhere behind him, he heard Al scream, but was too busy forcing himself to control his gag reflex to pay much mind. He raised his trembling right hand to cover his mouth.

Only metal met his lips.

Edward tried to scream, but found that he could not. He could only watch in horror as the rest of the creature pulled its way out from beneath the bed and began to drag itself toward him.

The scent of blood and rotting flesh assaulted him as the monster approached on all four of its lanky, inverted limbs. Its eyes glowed red as its mouth hung open, despite its entire head being upside down, letting its long hair drag on the floor.

 _“Get away from me!”_ Ed attempted to scream, but found that his voice was bent on betraying him, and all that escaped his throat was a slight, terrified squeak.

For a moment, the monster almost seemed to smile.

It reached out one of its inhuman hands and gently caressed his face, which only made him want to vomit more. He suddenly realized that Al was gone, and that intense pain had suddenly flared up where his right arm and left leg were...or rather, where they _should_ have been. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed, much to his horror, that they had been instead replaced with painful, heavy limbs of metal that he couldn’t even shift.

More horrible, however, was the fact that the monster opened its mouth and spoke.

_“Ed, dear...why…? Why couldn’t you fix Mommy…? Why did you do this to me? Why couldn’t you fix me? Why did this happen!? WHY couldn’t you get it RIGHT!? WHY DID YOU KILL ME AGAIN--”_

The monster lunged.

Finally, Edward screamed.

Everything went black.

**()()()()**

Edward jolted awake, jackknifing off of his pillow and into a sitting position with a sharp gasp. His heart pounded in his chest as his wide golden eyes darted around the hotel room, quickly taking in his surroundings.

There was the door, tightly shut, though with a bit of light from the hallway filtering through the cracks.

There was the window, allowing early morning sunlight to stream into the room and brighten the area.

There was Al, technically expressionless, but still clearly staring at him in shock and worry.

“Brother!” the suit of armor exclaimed, quickly moving to the older Elric’s side. “Are you alright!?”

No. No, he was not alright.

But for Al, he supposed he had to be.

“I-I’m f-fine, Al,” Ed stammered quickly, inwardly cursing his pounding heart and shallow breathing. “J-Just...just a b-bad dream, that’s all! N-Nothing to worry about…”

To his credit, Alphonse calmed down a bit, but he was far from relieved. His spiked shoulders slumped in sadness as he knelt down by the bedside. “Oh…” he said quietly. “Do you...want to talk about it this time…?”

It wasn’t the first time Edward had refused, and it wouldn’t be the last.

“N-No…” Ed mumbled, lowering his head to let his bangs hide his eyes as he struggled to get his trembling voice under control. “I-I’m fine, really...don’t worry so much, okay…?”

Ed knew that Al had probably long gotten tired of his older brother telling him not to worry. And of course, no matter how many times he said it, he knew that the younger boy would never stop worrying for him.

Such an acknowledgement only increased the guilt in his heart.

“Well...okay…” Alphonse said reluctantly. He could coax and encourage and beg, but Ed was fully aware that Al would never actually force him to open up about the images that haunted him at night...and that was all just as well. He couldn’t have his little brother feeling guilty that he couldn’t experience the horrific nightmares that Edward did.

Even though Ed figured he already did.

The young alchemist suddenly found himself desperate to change to the subject, but his mind continuously lingered on the nightmare he had just experienced, with the sickening scents of blood and flesh and the image of the thing that was but _wasn’t_ his mother touching him as it clawed its way out from under the--

He visibly stiffened.

...bed.

Edward could have kicked himself for the idiotic thought that occurred to him next, but it didn’t stop him from awkwardly clearing his throat and saying, “H-Hey, Al…can you, uh...take a glance under the bed for me for a second…? I, uh...think I want to read for a bit, and I’m pretty sure I accidentally kicked a book under there earlier...I’d get it myself, but you know...leg kinda hurts right now...probably gonna rain soon…”

It was stupid, it was dumb, and Edward knew that his little brother was far too smart to believe such a lame excuse, but with one look at his nervous face, Al dutifully nodded and carefully lowered himself to the ground to look underneath the bed. Moments later, he sat up.

“Sorry, Brother,” he said softly. “There’s nothing under there.”

Edward sighed in what sounded like exasperation, but was really relief. There was no way that Al hadn’t at least taken a silent guess at why his older brother was really asking him to check under the bed, and he likely hadn’t been far off. But...he hadn’t mentioned it. Not once. He just did as he was asked and answered in a way that he surely knew would subtly reassure him that everything was alright.

Any other little brother probably would have teased him into oblivion at the mere suggestion that Ed was scared of a monster under the bed that wasn't even there. Any other little brother would have been confused, or mocking, or would have just outright refused to comply. As Edward let out a long exhale while he laid back down with a mumbled, “Never mind, then…”, his mind wandered elsewhere, ultimately resting on one, solid fact that brought itself to light time and time again without fail, crushing his heart with both gratitude and guilt.

He didn’t deserve a brother like Al.


End file.
